This series, while pretty obscure, is one of my personal favourites. Thus it
was one of the first things I reviewed. Which mainly meant it had to cope with
a really poor and short review for much longer than such a cool anime deserves.
It's based on a manga by Masami Yuuki (also involved in Patlabor) which does
help explain it's cool mix of elements and intelligent writing.

The anime begins with explosions booming over the streets of Tokyo. Looking
a lot like some gang fighting it out with Bazooka's. Not that our lead even
notices. As a modern day Japanese schoolboy he's more worried about next day's
high school entrance exam. Not only does it look like things aren't going well,
but it looks like his studies have fried his brain. But then again, his incredibly
weird family thought he was more than half way there anyway. Thus when a rather
stressed and harried looking man asks for a place to hide he, without thinking,
show's him one he remembers from his youth. At this point, though he's still
reciting his studies, he's knee deep in something much stranger than he has
any reason to suspect. He's placed himself in the middle of a conflict between
a female cop and a criminal syndicate...and it's not like they're even local
to this planet.

Now, a quick warning, in order to give a feel for the story i'm going to come
very close to spoiling the whole thing. If you know you're going to see it,
and want the full effect, feel very free to jump the next paragraph.

It turns out that the man he's aided is a bit of an illegal alien...a bit as
in he's a criminal from another world. And, chasing him, is a rather agressive,
violent and awfully good fun federal alien police officer. In the ensuing carnage
our lead is accidentally, well, killed by this officer. Her superiors take a
suprisingly dim view of this, and encourage birdy (the officer) to keep his
cells alive by merging them with her own. Thus we get into a `buddy' movie
where the two leads are very closely bound. Although, while scientifically
implausible, this is presented as the ability to co-exist in the body and morph
between the two original forms. Not very believable, but a great basis for a
fun anime.

So, in short order, our lead finds his normal life going straight into the
twilight zone. The alien cop definitely needs his help to make any progress
in her investigations (and her revenge) while her opponents (who seem to hold
all the cards) can only stop her by taking them both out. It's not anything
like what the guy had in mind. And, given that the federal officer is more
like a super-powered big sister than anything else, while her opponents are
suitably vicious, it's not a fight he wants to be involved in. Mind you, once
some details of the shadowy plan the criminals are working on, and the way in
which it will affect those he knows, he finds himself being drawn into the
struggle as an active participant.

There are two really cool things about this anime. The main one is that it
simply drips with a sense of quality. The creators enjoyed doing it and did
their best to do it well. The other is that it melds a wide variety of
elements all of which have their individual virtues. The characters, and
there's quite a large cast, are strong and immediately recognizable. The
dialog, human aspects and even the lead's domestic existence is integrated
and interesting. And then there's birdy herself, who is just a wonderful
character. By human standards she's a super-powered cop hunting revenge, but
there's a wonderful ambiance of `big kid' about her. This might reduce from
her erotic appeal, even with her rather fan-service compatible costime, but
it's a lovely change. This shows got a complex sense of character and dialog
that is simply a pleasure to watch. There's even a touch of humor and romance
to add a bit of extra spice.

but wait..there's more! The plot itself, while fairly derivative, is woven
into the story well. More and more details are revealed leading up to the
climax. And the criminal group are also complex. There's rivalries, hidden
motives and great characters amongst them. Even earth's police are involved
as a third, albeit minor, force. It's well written stuff. However, and here
comes the problem, it's also limited by the time available in four OAV's.
There's also strong hints that it was meant to be a pilot, although it
appears to be a pilot that didn't take off. This is both a shame and the main
limiting factor on how complex the story can actually be.

Especially because the story has to allow a fair amount of time for some
sweet action sequences. The cop character, and her opponents, are like
enhanced humans. Thus huge leaps, physical strength and the ability to
survive impressive blows are all within their capabilities. This means that
combat is physical and acrobatic rather than boring guns or energy blasts.
And, to top it off, it's really well done and fought out in interesting
environments which are used in the moves. And, while birdy takes her fair
share of lumps, there's a strong suggestion she quite likes the challenge.

Indeed the production all round is top notch. There's some wonderful
scenes, some really cinematic framing of shots and potent expressions
of character. There's also a lot of detail in the background and some
excellent effects work. Both money and care went into this one and it
shows. Mind you, the complex backgrounds do occasionally make the
characters look a little super-imposed, and the action is sometimes a
bit hidden or suggested to reduce complexity, but these are observations
only the very picky should make. It's not new, and the style makes it
clear, but it's still very impressive stuff. The voices are great,
even for many of the minor characters, and expressive. The music is
perhaps a bit plastic and over-agressive in parts, but it does enhance
the energy of the scenes in which it is used. I really can't imagine
anyone being too upset at having to watch this anime.

The fine people at Akemi's AnimeWorld
like it, notes some weaknesses but generally strong characterisation in this
review and
also notes that it seems to be built as the foundation of a longer series.